As COVID deaths surge, Sri Lanka prepares for 10-day lockdown

Lockdown starting Friday night announced after government bows to pressure from experts as surge overwhelms hospitals.

Sri Lanka has announced a 10-day lockdown starting on Friday night in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as surging infections and deaths overwhelm the island nation’s hospitals, morgues and crematoriums. The Indian Ocean nation was forced to bow to intense pressure from medical experts after it recorded its highest single-day death toll of 187 and 3,793 cases on Wednesday. The country has reported a total of 372,079 infections since the start of the outbreak last year, with 6,604 deaths. Health experts say the actual toll was at least twice as much.